Monthly Archives: November 2013

As part of a wider programme, aimed at improving the educational performance of children from financially disadvantaged households, the government announced earlier this year changes in the way Ofsted will assess the standards of schools in England and Wales. As of September 2013, there has been a greater emphasis on the achievements and progress of poorer children. To allow adequate monitoring of this measure, the test results of children in receipt of the pupil premium are to be included discretely, as part of the schools performance tables.

The pupil premium is a payment made to schools in respect of any child who has qualified for free school meals within the previous six years, and is therefore considered to be a good indicator of financial disadvantage. The detrimental effect of being from a low-income household has been found to be quite substantial.  For example, in 2012, the results of the national tests carried out at the end of the primary phase showed that 68 per cent

Author Danny Pearson talks to us about his last minute decision to change the title of his graphic novel...

"I loved the name of this title, 'Pirate Unicorn', but something just wasn't quite right. I felt like it was missing something. I stared at the first draft of the cover and I felt like it certainly gave out the message that the story had a pirate unicorn in, but, it was missing the science fiction element to it. So I decided (over a rather large meal on a Sunday) that the title needed to be injected with a bit of sci-fi!

It was simple. All that needed to be done was to add in the word SPACE. So this is where I am now with this title. You still have your Unicorn... who is a pirate... but you now know that he comes from SPACE!

Sci-fi, adventure, and a pirate (who is also a unicorn). What more can you ask for?"

Last month we gave you a sneak peak of the plot outline and cover artwork for The Head is Dead by Tommy Donbavand and now we have some utterly brilliant inside artwork from illustrator Mark Penman to entice you with!

We love seeing how a simple sketch can suddenly evolve into an expressive character with a bit more shading and detail. Mr McShane, one of the main protagonists of this novel, is looking slightly worse for wear in this illustration... Find out why in January!